Manuel Pellegrini seems to have a bit of a bad taste in his mouth when it comes to West Ham, but none of that is to do with the fans. West Ham is a bit of a marmite club when it comes to managers. Some absolutely adore their time in East London, while some seem to regret almost everything about it.
For the likes of Sam Allerdyce and David Moyes, it was the fans’ criticism which led to them not enjoying their time at the club despite being successful in their own rights, This has caused them to repeatedly take digs at the club since leaving and, recently, Manuel Pellegrini has joined them in doing so.
Thankfully, unlike the British managers, Pellegrini’s is nothing to do with the fans and everything to do with the board. Manuel Pellegrini on his time at West Ham. “Coming back to England with West Ham was maybe not my best decision,” he confessed, “but I did it because I wanted to return to the Premier League.”
“The first season was not bad. But the club was exactly the opposite of Manchester City. They had two or three bad moments and they wanted to change the manager. They knew I left a lot of things to go to West Ham.”
“I had a contract in China. I changed a lot of things. The aspiration to fight for better started in the first year I was there. They invested more money. For different reasons you can have bad moments. But in that moment, as a manager, you must be sure the owners will continue. They did so many things for me to go to West Ham, but the first thing that went wrong, they sacked me.”
“That is not the style of club that I like,” the now Real Betis gaffer stated. “The West Ham fans are unbelievable – 50,000 every game with the passion for the team. I have no complaints about the fans because they were always with me. Looking back, when I finished in China, if I waited a little bit more I could have had another club. But West Ham were keen and convinced me.”
Although he may not have been particularly successful, and his 18 month spell in charge is certainly not remembered fondly, it’s great to know he still has respect for the East London faithful. Perhaps if he had taken over from Moyes this time around the club would have been in a better position to play the way he wanted to. Although the majority would argue that it was more than a few things that went wrong, he’s certainly earned a lot of respect from these comments.
